cerveza n.— «On my way to Ebebiyin, I was stopped several times by underpaid or rarely paid soldiers who demanded bribes—in their parlance cerveza, or beer money.» —“A Touch of Crude” by Peter Maass Mother Jones Jan.-Feb., 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)read more »

bark mitzvah n.— «In the long walk of history between man and dog, the bark mitzvah could be seen as an unexpected pit stop. Yet it was celebrated on Saturday night in the Bronx in a traditional way, with a party for family and friends of the 13-year-old that included a chopped-liver sculpture, choruses of “mazel [...]read more »

learning cottage n.— «Eight of the trailers—or “learning cottages,” as Fairfax parents and staff jokingly call them—house fourth-grade classes, four are third-grade classrooms, and the remaining ones are used for music and classes for gifted and disabled students.» —“Learning On The Run: Trailer classrooms are a way of life at Centre Ridge Elementary, which makes getting to [...]read more »

cacerolazo n.— «Pot-banging is sort of an institution in Latin America. Except for Cubans, Latin Americans all do it. Known as cacerolazo (from the word ‘casserole’) it’s a way of protesting a very oppressive or very corrupt political leader by banging on pots and pans. Usually, it’s housewives who do it, and it has a very [...]read more »

gift trauma n.— «“Gift giving has lost its meaning because we’re way too focused on the reaction of the recipient instead of wanting to find a small, meaningful gift,” says Sunwolf, a communications professor at Santa Clara University in California. She coined the phrase “gift trauma” to describe the malice, ill will and general bad feelings [...]read more »

silo budget other.— «Come budget time, however, HMO managers and executives may not feel that way as they tend to “silo budget,” set a drug budget in isolation of a medical budget, for example.» —“Medicare, Medicaid Rx Cost Survival Tied to Keeping Eye on FDA Pipeline” Managed Medicare & Medicaid Feb. 21, 2000. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)read more »